Locking key for brake shoes



Nov. 27 1923, 1,475,284

s. A. CRONE LOCKING KEY FOR BRAKE SHOES Filed June 12. 1922 INVENTORI Patented Nov. 27, 1923.

SETH A. CBONE, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

.LOCKING KEY FOR BRAKE SHOES.

Application filed June 12, 1922. Serial No. 567,579.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SETH A. (home, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of East Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Locking Keys for Brake Shoes, of which the following is a specification. V. V

The invention relates to improvements in railway car-brakes and pertains particularly to a novel key for locking the-brakeshoe to the brake-shoe head in such manner as to prevent the accidental loss of the key due to the jarring of the train and especially when a car is inverted to discharge its load. The locking key of my invention is a plicable to brake-heads and shoes of standard construction and does not call for or necessitate any change in the known and commonly used brake-heads and shoes, but has been specially designed for use therewith and to comply with A. R. A. requirements.

One purpose of my invention is to provide a locking key which may be commercially made and successfully used without any difficulty whatever, the blank for the key having regular continuous side edges and faces and said blank being transformed to provide a head on one end thereof and adjacent to the other end thereof, being formed with a comparatively wide longitudinal slot'initially extending uniformly adjacent to said side edges of the blank and thereafter being spread at said edges to provide laterally projecting opposite spring members which retard to some extent the application of the key to operative position and strongly resist the withdrawal of the key but permit such withdrawal on the application of proper force. to the head end of the key. The'key of my invention is of special design and construction with reference more especially to the features relating to the .aforesaid slot and the formation ofthe spring sides thereat adapted for locking the key in position in the brake-head and shoe, thespring side projections at said slot being near the entering end of the key and of special formation and adapted to yield inwardly on the application of the key to position and thereafter to spread laterally to normal position when arriving below the usual lower lug on the brake-head, the key thus becoming locked in normal operative position securing the brake-shoe to said head.

The invention wil b9 fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference being had to the a'ccom panying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 isan edge view, and

Fig. 2 a front elevation of a locking key constructed in accordance with and embodymg my invention. 1-

In the drawings, 10 designates the key as a whole, and this key is formed from one continuous strip or blank of springsteel and,

in the form shown, tapers from its head-end 11 to its entering end 12, both in thickness and in width, the blank or key when' in the fiat preferably being 13% inches long, %of an 1nch wide at its head end 11 and of an inch wide at its entering end 12. At its trans-'- verse middle the key is i} of an inch in width. In thickness the key is preferably inch thick at its head end, of-an inch thick at its center and a of an inch thick at its entering end. The stock from which the key is formed is rolled in the flat to form a blank and thereafter the blank is given the requisite and usual curve, its upper end is bent rear wardly to form the customary head 11 and a longitudinally elongatedcomparatively wide slot 14 is formed in the blank adj acentto' the entering end thereof, this slot being thereafter. spread or widened laterally to the condition shown in Fig. 2 and as hereinafter explained. The slot 14 will initially be tapered correspondingly with the adjacent side edges of the key so as. to be bounded at its sides by walls ofuniform widtlnandsaid' slot primarily will be, by preference, about ofan inch in width at its lower end and of an inch in width at its upper end. After the slot 14 has been formed, the sides of the key atthe slot will be spread laterally in a manner to cause the edges of the key at about the transverse middle line of the slot to form outwardly projecting opposite rounded shoulders 15, from the apexes of which the side edges of the key gradually converge downwardly and inwardly on convex curves, as at 16, while at the upper side of the shoulders 15, the edges of thekev turn inwardly on somewhat abrupt angles 17 and thence gradually converge upwardly. The slot 14 in its final outline is shown in Fig. 2,,and this outline is given to the slot by means of a forming plug forced down into it while the adjacent portions ofthe key are heldin a die defining therform in tended for the key at the sides of said slot, the d e eeping t e side edg portions of the key at said slot regular and confining the same'to the outline shown.

The key 10 is of special character as will be understood from the foregoing description, and the formation of the slot 14 and the spreading thereof to the form shown is for the purpose of providing in an efficient and practical manner, opposite lateral projec' tions, at'15, adapted on being driven through thesecuring lugs of the head and shoe, not shown, to yield inwardly and thereafter, after passing through the lower lug on the brake-head, to expand outwardly in opposite directions below said lug to resist the upward passage of the key through the lug.

The rolled blank from which the key is formed has the same general proportions as the key, the key difiering therefrom only in the curvature of the key, the formation of the"bent-over end or head 11 and in the provision'of the slot 14 and projections 15.

' The'key may thereforebe readily formed fromthebl'ankwith a mini-mum of labor and expense. The. ovel portions of the key are more especially con'finedto the formation of the slot 14 and-of the portions of the key along the side edges of said slot. The slot 14 is initially formed by removing the metal atthe interior of the blank or key to provide 'a' substantial opening, as distinguished from merely slitting the blank or key, and in the production of the slot or opening the sides of the blank or key along the same are left narrow and'uniform and capable thereafter of being spread and shaped outwardly into the form shown in Fig. 2, whereby said sides are capable of having definite inward spring action on pressure being applied to their outer oppositeedges or at the projections 15- and of springing outwardly when such pressure is relieved, these actions ofsaid sidesbeing facilitated from the fact that the ends of the slotare of considerable transverse width. The gentle uniform curvature of the said sides below theprojections 15 permit the key to be readily driven through the head and shoe lugs, while the'opposite condition above said projections results inthe key properly resisting its withdrawal from position. I directspecial attention to the fact thatin the'initial formation ofthe blank for the'key, said blank has regular. side" edges throughout or in the other works is not formed with side projections to be there after'used as shoulders, and this feature is one 'of importance in considering the coinine'rcial manufacture of the keys on a large scale. I do not limit my invention in every in stan'ceto thespecific dimensions of the key hereinbfefore recited, nor to thetapering of thesides of the key, nor to the specific forof the comparatively narrow out-- w'ardly spread side edges" of the key along the slot 14, since these features admit of variation within the spirit and scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

I have shown and described the most desirable embodiment of theinvention known to me, and am aware that the same is capable of modification in respect to some of its details.

What 1 claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: V

1. A locking key of the character described for brake-shoe heads and brakeshoes of standard construction,-said key beportions of the key, which portions are in part'expanded outwardly in opposite directions to form lateral convex projections adapted to be sprung inwardly in applying the key and thereafter to spring outwardly below the lower brake-head lug, for locking the key in position.

2. A locking key of the character described for brake-shoe heads and brake shoes of standard construction, saidjkey being of elongated and curved form and'of stock which is tapered in thickness and in width from the head to, the entering end of the key, said key having smooth front and back surfaces allowing, as to themselves, the key to freely pass to and from operative position, and said keyhaving ahead at one s which portions are'in partfexpandedoutwardly in opposite directi'onsto form convex shouldersadapted to be sprung inwardly in applying the key and thereafter to spring outwardly below the lower wbrakehead lug, for locking the key in position, said side edge portions converging downwardly on concave lines'from the ape'Xes of said shoulders to, facilitate the positioning of the key and forming rather abrupt angles above said shoulders to aid in resisting the withdrawal of the key from its operativeposition.

3. A locking key of the character described for brake shoe heads and brake- SllOGS of standard construction, said key being ofelongated and curved form and of stock which is tapered in thickness and in width from the head to the entering end of the key, said key having smooth front and back surfaces, allowing, as to thernselves, the key to freely pass to and from operative position, and said key having a head at one end and'in its lower or enter ing portion a longitudinally elongated slot at the middle portions of the sides of which the side edge portions of the key are ex panded outwardly in opposite directions to form rounded lateral projections adapted to be sprung inwardly in applying the key and thereafter to spring outwardly below the loWer'b'rake-head lug, for locking the key I in position, said side edge portions converg ing downwardly on concave lines from the apexes of said projections to facilitate the positioning of the key and forming rather abrupt angles above said shoulders to aid in resisting the'withdrawal of the key from its operative position.

Signed at New York. city, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 9th day of June, A. D. 1922; v

SETH A. CRONE. 

